The Gunthers
by Raaaaaaaaaaaaa
Summary: A new family has just moved in, the Gunthers. They're very different to the Grace family... Simon doesn't think they will fit in. Let's see. Yet to be finished, but please R&R! My first fanfic...
1. Chapter 1

Simon his patiently in the tree. A moving truck had driven into the driveway a short while a go but the new family were yet to arrive. They were moving into a house similar to Aunt Lucinda's; it was old and musky and looked like many houses stacked on top of each other. Sherbet crawled out of his pocket.

"Sherbet!" exclaimed Simon and grabbed the mouse before it could run away.

A black car with tinted windows, rolled into the driveway. A man in a tuxedo got out quickly and walked around to open the door. A woman, in her early thirties walked out, took off her sunglasses, looked around and sneered. She took a few steps and her high heels got stuck in a mud puddle. Simon chuckled to himself. A man, no older than the woman, crawled out of the car. His jeans were spotless and he didn't wear a shirt. That car rolled away and another car, exactly the same as the first parked directly in front of the car. This time the driver did not get out of the car; instead a chubby man ran out of the house, but he wasn't quick enough. The car door was pushed open and a girl about Simon's age stepped out.

The man seemed to squeal and she ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. They let go and the man walked back inside; the girl walked up to the front step and then sat down. She seemed to smile happily at her surroundings. The moving men came along carrying a couch about the size of two cars. She looked apologetic and held the door for them, then followed the men inside.

Simon shuffled down the tree and shook the autumn leaves from his hair.

"When Mum said tell her if the new neighbours arrive I don't think this is what she means." Simon turned around to face his twin brother.

"I was trying to find Sherbet." Jarrod sighed and walked away, after a few paces he turned around and ushered Simon to come with him; obediently, Simon followed. The boys didn't say much as they walked home. When they arrived back, Mallory was fencing with the unicorn. As usual Mallory was not winning but she was not about to give up, Simon knew that she was taking out all her anger out. Mallory had recently failed her English test and that meant she had to do extra-credit work to stay in the class. Jarrod continued to walk, and eventually headed up the creaking steps.

Mrs Grace was in the kitchen, preparing dinner for them. The smell of lemon and ginger wafted into Simon's face, almost blowing him over with intensity. Mrs Grace was cooking Aunt Lucinda's favourite stir-fry; it was packed with flavour, as were most of the foods Aunt Lucinda liked.

"Where have you been, Simon?" asked his mother

"The new neighbours are here." Jarrod interrupted, Mrs Grace turned around and smiled.

"Really? Let's invite them over then." Simon paled a little.

"But…but they've only just got here, we can't…"

"Simon, it's 6:30, I'm sure they don't want to cook dinner when they've only just arrived."

"Is there enough for all of them?" asked Jarrod.

"What, is there twelve of them?" asked Mrs Grace, Simon shook his head and lifted up four fingers. She smiled, widely.

"Perfect, get Mallory and go ask them to dinner." Simon was about the protest.

"No arguments." Said his mother. Jarrod grabbed Simon's sleeve and pulled him out the door.

"Mallory!" called Jarrod.

"What?" hissed Mallory, through clenched teeth.

"Mum wants us to ask the new neighbours for dinner." Replied Simon sadly. Mallory dropped her fencing sword and stood up. She bowed to the unicorn, who nodded. Mallory, who was excited to avoid her extra-credit work, led the boys along the path. The path was lined with maples, the leaves were golden and the wind would blow them away soon. They walked up the driveway and Jarrod knocked on the door; the knocker was old fashioned, it was obviously brass and was not made in any particular shape.

The fat man, now dressed in a suit, opened the door.

"Hello." He said happily, "May I help you with something." Mallory poked the unhappy Simon, who poked Jarrod. Jarrod grinned and spoke up.

"We're the neighbours, we wondered if you'd like to come to dinner?"

"Well, well, you'll have to ask the boss. Follow me." He merrily turned and walked away, the Grace kids shrugged and followed.

"I'm the butler, Smithers is my name." he said and Jarrod smiled,

"I'm Jarrod Grace and this is my sister Mallory and my brother Simon." Smithers stopped, turned around and shook hands with each of them.

"Pleasure." He said, he had a slight accent but it was impossible to decipher where it was from.

Smithers plodded up one flight of stairs. Simon noticed that, unlike Aunt Lucinda's house, the house look new and you were able to walk everywhere. They stopped at two big wooden doors at the end of the hallway. Smithers straightened his jacket (which didn't fit properly over his stomach) and knocked.

"Come in." came a weak reply. Smithers walked in but indicated for the kids to stay outside.

"Sir, we have an invite to dinner from the neighbours." There was a loud and long sigh and Smithers collected the kids who were nervously walked in.

"So," said the man, "dinner, huh?"

"Yes Sir." Replied Mallory. The man with unimaginable speed jumped up and flicked out his mobile phone; he began texting faster than the average secretary. After a few minutes of stunned silence. He looked up again.

"If you find the sitting room, you're welcome to wait, but I'm afraid I have no clue where it is. My name is Joshua Gunther, my wife will be down in about 10minutes and my adopted daughter, Adrianna will come down soon. Smithers!"

"Yes Sir?" Mr Gunther did not say anything but nodded. Smithers obviously knew that Mr Gunther meant because he ushered the kids out and walked them on the ground floor. The couch that Simon had seen them carried in was dumped in a large room. The room was dark and musky, there seemed to be a layer of dust everywhere but the couch.

"Sorry about the dust, we've only just moved in, you see."

"We know." Said Jarrod, Simon poked Jarrod hard. Smithers just smiled and nodded.

The wooden floors were creaking as footsteps echoed around the house. Smithers jumped up but sat back down when a girl walked through the door.

"Smithers, chill – you're my parent's butler, not mine." Smithers laughed and the girl sat down next to him.

"Hi, I'm Adrianna, but generally I'm called, Ads."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews; sorry it's taken me so long. This explains some stuff that seemed wrong in the first part…**

They walked back quickly; when they got back there was the introduction between Mrs Grace, Aunt Lucinda and Ads; Simon thought that she'd be uncomfortable, but she seemed fine. Throughout dinner Simon found it impossible to stop fidgeting. Every now and then, he'd look up from his stir-fry to find Ads looking at him; it wasn't rude, but it made it slightly uncomfortable all the same.

When they finished eating, Mallory excused herself, so she could 'finish' her extra credit project and Mrs Grace took Aunt Lucinda out for bingo. Ads, Jarrod and Simon were left to clear the table. It seemed to Jarrod that Ads just was one of those girls who just 'fit' everywhere they went. Simon was not so sure.

"So," said Jarrod. "Ads, can I ask something personal?"

Ads turned and smiled.

"Sure."

"Why did Mr Gunther call you his adopted daughter?"

"Because I am."

"But, isn't that just…"

Ads smiled.

"Well you see, when Josh and Lucy adopted me, I'm not sure they were quite ready for it. I guess they've never really accepted me, so to them, I'm just something they have to carry around. Not really a daughter, more just an unwanted possession."

There was an awkward pause, but Simon noticed Ads was still smiling.

"Hey," she laughed. "Don't worry about it – those guys are only really dropping me here. There's no way they'd live in a hole like this. No offence."

Jarrod laughed.

"None taken. So they'll be moving back?"

"Yeah, back to Australia."

Simon did a double-take.

"You're from Australia?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, I thought you'd pick up on the accent."

"I… well I didn't, obviously."

Jarrod's eyes widened. It was not every day Simon was rude. Simon lifted his nose and walked out.

"Sorry," whispered Ads. "I guess I offended him. I didn't mean to."

Jarrod shook his head.

"He mustn't be feeling well, sorry about that."

"Maybe you should go see what's wrong."

"Yeah, maybe I should."

So Ads was left in the musky house all by herself; but it wasn't long until Thimbletack came to suss out the new visitor.

"Hello."

"Hello Boggart."

There was a pause as Thimbletack stared at the girl. It almost looked like she was staring back, but he was invisible, surely he couldn't be seen.

There was a knock on the door and Simon ran to answer it. When he opened it, Smithers, Ads' butler was waiting.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, but Mr Gunther would like her home now."

"Sure, come on in. I'll get her."

Smithers waited at the door and Ads was called over.

"Thanks for having me," she said politely.

Jarrod nodded.

"Thanks for coming over. We didn't get a chance to ask, what school are you going to?"

She looked nervously over at Smithers, who shook his head.

"We're not sure yet."

"Oh," Jarrod disappointedly replied. "Well, I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, definitely. Bye!"

She waved and Jarrod watched them walk away into the darkness. When she had gone, Thimbletack appeared next to him.

"Thimbletack no like new pixie."

"She's not a pixie! She's a human."

"Thimbletack no like it when human argue, when Thimbletack is right."

Jarrod sighed loudly.

"Look, the guide clearly says that pixies are small and faerie like."

"They're not."

Jarrod spun around. Simon was sitting at the foot of the stairs.

"Listen to me. I don't like her either. There's something wrong with her."

"Yeah, but it's not because she's a pixie."

Simon stared angrily at Jarrod.

"You read the guide, didn't you? Surely you remember: _when a pixie is signed to a being, whether it be of mortal or immortal kind, it becomes what ever it has been wished,_" quoted Simon.

"I don't remember you reading the book so thoroughly," commented Mallory.

Simon turned and looked at her; she looked tall from the top of the staircase. It was strange to think that she was about to graduate high school. It didn't seem like 5 years had really passed since they had first found out about faeries, and a year had passed since they had visited their father and had met Nick and his step sister.

"Jarrod?"

He snapped back into reality.

"What?"

"Did you notice what was wrong with Ads?"

"No."

Jarrod looked curiously at his brother.

"She… her ears were quite pointy, but they were quite close to her head, her body was very long, her legs even longer. She adapted into the conversation and environment too well, too easily. Everyone seemed to like her."

"Is that it? You're worried because she's tall too and has pointy ears?"

"That's not it, Jarrod and you know it," snapped Mallory. "Listen to Simon."

"The way she moved was unnatural. It was fluid and graceful, yet sharp and animalistic. She can't be human, Jarrod. It's impossible, she's too far from normal. And well, what she said about her parents…"

Simon shifted uncomfortably.

"What if her parents were faeries?"

Jarrod pushed passed his siblings and ran into the room that he and Simon still shared. He couldn't understand what Simon was saying; she seemed normal. Although, now that he had time to think, the way she moved was wrong, her choice of words seemed too rehearsed, there were little details. She never fidgeted, she didn't really blink, she just sat there. He laid out on the bed that was now too small for him, he had grown up a lot, Jarrod Grace had. He had grown taller, bigger, but smarter; and he knew Simon had too.

Jarrod didn't see Ads again until school. When she was instantly noticeable, her uniform looked like it was a paper cut out and it never really changed shaped as she moved around with the popular kids. When she turned, she saw him; Ads waved excitedly but neither of the boys showed they had seen her. They turned and walked away.

It was during the middle of Jarrod's history lesson that it all happened. It began with the fire alarm going off. Then it was a kid had blocked the main door exit with wooden boards. Then teachers began to run around in circles. Jarrod turned to the back of classroom as water ran down his back; Ads sat calmly watching everything turn to chaos.

She stood up and skipped to Jarrod.

"You've got a problem."

He grabbed her dress but found it was like holding dry sand.

"It ends when Lorengorm says it's over," she warned him.

He looked at her blankly and she rolled her eyes.

"I know you know I'm not human. I know you know I'm a pixie, but I'm half elf, it explains the ears; the elves are not so satisfied with your stupid guide anymore. They want more."

"What do you want?"

"The stone, remember it? It holds more then you know. We want that, and your hobgoblin."

Simon tried again to grab her and stop her from walking but again the sand slipped through his fingers.

"Jarrod Evan Grace. Time is running against you."

"How long?"

"Our patience is not endless. It runs out by the new full moon."

"That's tomorrow!"

"Then you don't have much time at all."


End file.
